Vermin!

Where is Amnesty International and all other so-called human rights [sic] organizations when people really need them?

“Vermin” was how Mr Charles Falwasser’s, the father of NZ police brutality victim, called the four police officers who repeatedly assaulted his defenseless teenage son with batons and pepper spray in a police cell.

“Delighted” was how the thugs’ racist lawyer Susan Hughes, QC, described the feeling of her depraved clients. “There was only ever going to be one verdict and this was it,” she said.

“It proves we live in a black-and-white world,” said, Kihi, mother of the victim, as she condemned the racist justice system: “We are absolutely shocked and devastated by the decision but we’re not surprised. We had a white jury in there.”

“Murderers” and “Pigs,” were how the victim’s brother, Tawhiao, described the racist scumbags.

The gang of four paramilitary thugs [policemen] were acquitted of all charges by an all white jury (surprise, surprise!). (Source: 3News) Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

Tawera Falwasser said when he visited the police station and asked how his brother’s head had been split, the answer from a smiling Senior Constable Bruce Laing was “with a baton.” [That demands a punishment with a baton!]

The victim, Mr Falwasser, said he feared for his life and wrote “Jesus” in his blood on the cell walls to attract attention.

He suffered a five-centimeter gash on his head, a 6½-centimeter cut on his arm and bruising on his arms and legs from batons. He now suffered from post-traumatic stress.

The racist judge, Patrick Treston, declined media applications to publish police station CCTV footage of the assault. (Source)

Related Links:

• You Racist Evil Scumbags!

Chinese call for Olympic boycott

Chinese Uighur call for Olympic boycott

Reuters June 25 – People from the Chinese Uighur minority call on the international community to boycott the Beijing Olympic games.

The Uighur who come from the Xinjiang province demonstrated at the European Commission for the world to put more pressure on China to stop repressing their people and to redress their human rights record. China has said it has foiled Olympic bomb plots and plans to kidnap athletes by militants from the Xinjiang region.

Related Links:

• Chinese call for Olympic boycott (Video)
• Boycott 2008 Communist Olympics

Did You Know?

Arizona Legislator Karen Johnson Asks McCain to Meet on 9/11

Jun 3, 2008

Johnson’s letter requests that McCain allow a meeting with Scottsdale professor, Blair Gadsby, who has been on a hunger strike outside McCain’s office on 16th Street for nine days.

Senator Karen Johnson: “More than six years after 9/11, we still have not had a thorough investigation of the causes of that tragedy. I am so impressed by the research of Dr. Steven Jones, Frank Legge, Tony Szamboti, David Ray Griffin, and so many others. My concern deepens every time I read a new article. As the evidence of controlled demolition mounts, my desire for a new investigation increases. I want to add my voice to the voices of AE for 911 Truth.”

Blair Gadsby is hungry for 9/11 Truth, as is Senator Johnson, sitting beside him.

Arizona state senator Karen Johnson [R-18] today delivered a letter to the office of U.S. Senator John McCain asking him to meet with a group of professionals to discuss the events of 9/11 when terrorists hijacked four airplanes and attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

Johnson recently announced her support for a new, independent investigation of 9/11. “Even the chairman of the commission has announced his dissatisfaction with the report,” said Johnson. “Anyone who reads the report can see that much was left out and that there are many discrepancies,” she said.

Johnson’s letter requests that McCain allow a meeting with Scottsdale professor, Blair Gadsby, who has been on a hunger strike outside McCain’s office on 16th Street for nine days. Gadsby has arranged for architect Richard Gage and physicist Steven Jones to meet with McCain at his convenience to present evidence of controlled demolition gathered from the ruins of Ground Zero. Gage is the founder of Archetects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth – a group consisting of hundreds of building professionals who want Congress to open up a new investigation of 9/11. Dr. Jones is a physicist who has done laboratory analysis of residue from the rubble of the World Trade Center and found evidence of explosives. Both Gage and Jones believe that the Twin Towers and Building 7 collapsed as a result of explosives that were planted in the buildings before September 11.

“Their evidence is very significant,” said Johnson, “because it wasn’t presented to the 9/11 Commission when they did their original investigation, and it completely changes the conclusions of the Commission. There’s nothing wrong with going back and having another look. If the Commission didn’t have all the facts, then so be it. But we need to know what happened on 9/11. Nearly 3,000 Americans died that day, and we deserve to know the truth about what happened. It’s time to get to the bottom of this.”

Johnson and Hunger-Striker Gadsby want McCain to allow Jones and Gage to present the evidence to him. “Senator McCain wants to be elected to the highest office in this country,” said Senator Johnson, “and he needs to know the truth about 9/11. Finding answers to 9/11 should be a significant part of this presidential campaign. The events of 9/11 led to this war with Iraq, to the creation of the Dept. of Homeland Security, to the loss of habeus corpus, the use of wiretaps, the push for a national ID, and other legislation that deprives us of freedom. This is a very significant issue, and no one is discussing it. Our presidential candidates need to talk about this.” (Source)

Related Links:

• Links to presentations by Richard Gage, AIA [If you are a structural/civil engineer, an architect or a citizen concerned about buildings safety, then you ought to watch Richard Gage’s presentations and interviews. It’s time well spent. Moderators]
• Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth
• Lawmaker takes 9/11 doubts global
• This war on terrorism is bogus

Asians are Killed Like Flies in New Zealand

Third Asian Murdered in New Zealand in One Week!

Original Entry:

Stay Alive; Don’t Go New Zealand!

See also: How many white NZ women are murdered assassination style after having their handbags snatched?

A 39-year-old Asian woman, presumed to be Korean or Japanese[ see update], was murdered in Auckland as her assailant who snatched her handbag knocked her down with his 4WD and drove over her.

The Asian victim suffered serious head injuries and died about an hour later.

The other two Asians who were murdered in New Zealand last week were Mr Navtej Singh, 30, an Indian shopkeeper who was shot to death in his Auckland shop, and Mrs Yin Ping Yang, an 80-year-old Chinese woman who was viciously attacked and fatally injured in her home.

Related News Links:

• Woman run over after vicious robbery dies

Background Information:

• How Many More Tourists Did You Kill Today, Mr Wolfie?

• Another Tourist Killed in New Zealand
• One in 10 Kiwis Wants Out
• Update: Irish Tourist Mugged and Battered

• Tourist couple kidnapped at gunpoint, robbed, woman raped, husband assaulted .
• Men guilty of kidnapping tourist
• Tourist abducted and robbed
• Backpacker rapist sentenced to 7 years

• German Tourist’s Murder was Preventable
• English tourist’s campervan set on fire in the carpark
• The two kidnappers who beat and raped the Dutch tourist only get 10 and 6 years
• Father urges New Zealand pilot to face music over tourist’s death

• You Want to Work in New Zealand?
• Truth About ‘100% Pure New Zealand’ Advertising Campaign
• Stop New Zealand Committing Eco-Terrorism!
• Assault victim tells of terrifying ordeal
• Increased violence in NZ: What are the tourists coming here for?

• New Zealand Tourism Claims More Victims
• “Lousy NZ drivers blamed for high death toll”
• New Zealand: A Tourist Deathtrap
• South American tourists were beaten and robbed
• An Open Letter to New Zealand Prime Minister

New Zealand: A Tourist Deathtrap!

Welcome to New Zealand!
And will you be playing New Zealand Roulette, or have you booked other games?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10493084

[Note: NZ government agencies have declined to provide the relevant stats on the numbers of assaults and murders of foreigners.]

A 25-year-old Korean national was killed on NZ State Highway 2
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4405769a11.html

Two Koreans were injured in tourist bus collision
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4405812a11.html

Three tourists hurt in vicious Queenstown street attack: “It was a very serious assault,” police said. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4405769a11.html

Links to recent tourist fatalities in NZ:
New Zealand: A Tourist Deathtrap
Canadian Tourist Murdered?
Murdered in New Zealand in the Prime of Her Life

A 57-year-old American tourist fell to his death after missing unmarked “path” in Mt Cook
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4394988a11.html

A British tourist killed in bus crash, fate of the other seriously injured tourists unknown
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4384845a11.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/thepress/4386040a6009.html

Roads claim nine lives during weekend
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/080204/3/3ua9.html

One person is dead and two seriously injured in a tourist bus collision yesterday.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4354764a11.html

Crash raises road toll to 11 for January
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4342068a10.html

Tourist bus crashes with van, 1 dead.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4356238a6570.html

Three female Korean tourists, aged 18, 19, and 34, had their right arms amputated after the crash. Another passenger suffered a fractured eye socket.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4322877a11.html

Eight Chinese tourists were taken to hospital, one with serious injuries.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4240038a23955.html

West Coast bus crash injures 21 overseas tourists [with 10 receiving severe injuries such as fractured limbs.]
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4273025a6047.html

One tourist was killed and Eight others are in a critical condition after a head-on crash in Waikato. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4342236a11.html

22 foreign tourists run for their lives after their bus catches fire
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10485349

A 46-year-old Malaysian woman was raped in Auckland
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10492627

terres

Why is Google Allowed to Operate Against the US Constitution?

The Human Rights of an Octogenarian Chinese Woman

Google has effectively blocked the following posts from its search engines:

Deceased: Yin Ping Yang, 80, was fatally attacked at her home. She was the second of three Asians murdered in Auckland, New Zealand, the Valley of Death, in one week.

Brave New Zealanders Bash Octogenarian Chinese Woman to Death and

New Zealand Racist Storm Worse Than China Quake at

New Zealand: Plumbing the Depth of Depravity

Google Censorship is a Flagrant Violation of Our Freedom of Speech!

Freedom of speech is being able to speak freely without censorship. The United States Constitution protects opinions under inalienable 1st Amendment free speech rights.

The right to freedom of speech is also guaranteed under international law through numerous human-rights instruments, notably under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

How much longer is Google allowed to continue its censorship in violation of the United States Constitution and the international law?

Ethiopia: Humanity’s Ground Zero

The Land of Death

• Some 4.6 million people need assistance, compared to 2.2 million before the drought.
• As many as 75,000 children are already suffering from acute malnutrition.
• Six million Ethiopian children under five may be at risk of malnutrition.
• In 1985 one million Ethiopians died of famine.
• The UN wants $325 million to provide 400,000 tons of food.

It’s time someone sat down and calculated all the money that the UN et al and all other relief agencies and humanitarian organizations have received on behalf of the Ethiopians in the last quarter of century, and asked:

What exactly have you done for these poor souls?

One of thousands of livestock carcasses litter the ground around Goraye in the drought-stricken Borena zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia in this file photo from March 25, 2006. Drought in Ethiopia has caused food shortages, killed livestock and more than doubled the number of people needing urgent humanitarian aid to 5 million, the United Nations said on Friday. REUTERS/Andrew Heavens. Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

The Ethiopia-Somali Connection

Warlords Next Door?

Channel 4 (UK) Video Documentary

Dispatches reveals how key politicians at the heart of the vicious fighting in Somalia – described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis – enjoy incredibly close links to Britain. They have British or EU passports, their families live here and they commute between Somalia and homes in English cities. British taxpayers are financing them in the name of democracy – yet in Somalia they are linked to allegations of mass murder, torture, extortion and corruption. [See Video Reports]

Related Links:

• Drought doubles number of Ethiopians needing aid: U.N.
• Famine fears grow in Ethiopia (Video report)

tes

Prosecute George W. Bush for Mass Murder!

Our special thanks to Ken for bringing this book to our attention:

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

A book by Vincent Bugliosi

Excerpts

The Legal Framework for the Prosecution

With respect to the position I take about the crimes of George Bush, I want to state at the outset that my motivation is not political. Although I’ve been a longtime Democrat (primarily because, unless there is some very compelling reason to be otherwise, I am always for “the little guy”), my political orientation is not rigid. More

Palpable Anger

My anger over the war in Iraq, some will say, is palpable in the pages of this book. If I sound too angry for some, what should I be greatly angry about — that a referee gave what I thought was a bad call to my hometown football, basketball, or baseball team, and it may have cost them the game? I don’t think so. More

Bush’s Reaction to War

How has George Bush reacted to the hell he created in Iraq, to the thousands of lives that have been lost in the war, and to the enormous and endless suffering that the survivors of the victims — their loved ones — have had to endure? More

Bugliosi v. Bush

With the literally hundreds of prosecutors out there and the powerful evidence of guilt I’ve set out, it’s hard to believe there’s not at least one prosecutor, maybe more, courageous enough to say this is America, and in America no man is above the law. More

Related Links:

• “SOMEONE HAS TO PAY” (Video)
• Iraq: That Expensive Hellhole of Genocide

tes

Black Holes Suck!

One Day Soon, A Tiny Wall Street Black Hole Will Suck In the Rest of Your Assets! —TERRES

Casinos on Wall Street

by Ralph Nader
June 10, 2008

Move over Las Vegas. The big time gamblers are on Wall Street and they are gambling with your money, your pensions, and your livelihoods.

Unlike Las Vegas casinos, these big investment banks, commercial banks and stock brokerage houses are supposed to have a fiduciary relationship with your money. They are supposed to be trustees for the money you have given them to safeguard, and tell you when they are making risky investments.

Because Washington, D.C. has increasingly become corporate-occupied territory, the Wall Street Boys have been taking even greater risks with your money. The more they produce cycles of financial failure, the more they pay themselves through their rubberstamp boards of directors.

With each cycle of failure, the burden of government bailouts grows larger, meaning debt, deficit and your tax dollars. The Savings and Loan collapse in the late Eighties—costing before the bailout instruments are paid off at least $500 billion, looks small by comparison with what is going on today.

Why is it that these financial bosses never learn? Because they never pay for their gambling. They may be let go, as happened recently to the CEOs of Merril Lynch and Citigroup, but they ride away from their managerial wreckage loaded with compensation and severance gold. Some of it is clearly hush money from those buddies they left behind.

Now comes the latest installment of disastrous management that has been running the venerable Wall Street investment bank, Lehman Brothers. With its stock plummeting because of avaricious risktaking with other people’s money, mixed up with their huge pay packages, Lehman Brothers’ employees look to their leader, Richard S. Fuld. For some time, he and his fellow executives would exude confidence about their ability to manage their risking financial instruments compared to their tanking competitors.

This week, the Lehman Emperor really had no clothes. Mr. Fuld reported a staggering $2.8 billion loss in the second quarter, exceeding the most dire forecasts. Even the hedges that Lehman used to temper the losses from its mortgage investments soured, adding to the losses.

It was just last April that Mr. Fuld announced his belief that “the worst is over” in the markets. For this type of management, he got paid $40 million last year, or nearly a million dollars a week, not counting vacations.

The Wall Street Boys, like all charlatans, develop words and phrases to dress up their megagambling practices. They say they are trying to avoid a “crisis of confidence” when these proclaimed capitalists go to Uncle Sam for a socialistic bailout. That only increases the “moral hazard”—another euphemism—and sets the stage for another round of reckless Wall Street Goliaths being deemed “too big to fail”.

One of Wall Street’s sharpest analysts—Henry Kaufman—believes that the “too big to fail” phenomenon undermines market discipline and encourages the smaller firms to merge with the larger companies to avail themselves of Washington’s bailout criteria.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal last August, Mr. Kaufman acutely traces the growth of ever more complex, abstract financial instruments, removed from their empirical underpinnings in the economy, accelerated by the lightening speed of computerized transactions. He called for “increased supervision over financial institutions and markets.”

“Supervision” was once called federal regulation. Call it what you will, Mr. Kaufman is not expecting anything soon. He writes: “In today’s markets, there is hardly a clarion call for such measures. On the contrary, the markets oppose it, and politicians voice little if any support. For their part, central bankers [read, the Federal Reserve] do not posses a clear vision of how to proceed toward more effective financial supervision.”

Though couched in polite, non-normative language, this is a very troublesome indictment of corporate intransigence and regulatory paralysis. Since August 2007, the situation has gotten worse with the Wall Street Boys producing more huge losses and phony asset valuations.

A few weeks ago, former Federal Reserve Chairman, Paul Volcker, delivered an address in New York voicing similar worries and calls for “supervision,” as did Mr. Kaufman, though in his own inimitable style.

Other astute, former men of Wall Street, have raised alarms about the stock and derivatives marketplace, including former SEC chairman, Arthur Levitt and William Donaldson. Long before anyone came cautionary wisdom of John Bogle, who pioneered stock market indexing and launched Vanguard Fund. (See his new book, The Little Book of Common Sense Investing: The Only Way to Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns)

Still, there is no regulatory action in Washington which doesn’t even move on behalf of consumers to regulate the New York Mercantile Exchange where rampant speculation, not supply and demand, decides what you are paying for gasoline and heating oil.

With the politicians sleepwalking in Washington, while their campaign pockets are filled by Wall Street cash, isn’t it time for the people of America to rouse themselves civically and politically? Act before the financial sector, using your money, shreds itself under the weight of its own top-heavy greed and cliff-hanging mismanagement.

For starters, start demanding more from your politicians, much more!

Kucinich Moves to Impeach Bush

US Congressman Moves to Impeach Bush

By Belfast Telegraph

10/06/08 “Belfast Telegraph” – Former Democratic presidential contender, Dennis Kucinich, has called for the impeachment of George W Bush claiming that the president set out to deceive the nation, and violated his oath of office with the Iraq war.

Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich called for the impeachment of U.S. President George W. Bush for launching the war of aggression against Iraq.

The Ohio representative yesterday introduced 35 articles of impeachment against Bush on the floor of the US House of Representatives.

Kucinich unveiled a list of alleged illegal and improper acts by Bush, including war crimes.

He accused Bush executing a “calculated and wide-ranging strategy” to deceive citizens and Congress into believing that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States.

He went on to say that Bush and Cheney lied to Congress and the American public about the reasons for invading Iraq in 2003 and abused their offices in order to conduct the “War on Terror” following the 9/11 attacks.

“Bush misled the American people and members of Congress to believe Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction so as to manufacture a false case for war. President George W. Bush, by such conduct, is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office,” Kucinich said.

He has already introduced a similar impeachment resolution against Vice President Cheney.

Bob Fertik, President of Democrats.com, said: “We’ve waited seven years to find one Member of Congress brave enough to stand up for our Constitution, for which generations of Americans have fought and died.

“We are thrilled and honored that Dennis Kucinich has chosen to be that one genuine patriot.

“We congratulate him on his historic leadership, and pledge to do everything in our power to persuade Congress to adopt all 35 Articles and put George W Bush on trial before the Senate of the United States, exactly as the Founding Fathers wanted.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that there will be no consideration of impeachment proceedings against Bush and said the idea was “off the table.”

Kucinich’s case: the 35 points

Article I –  Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq

Article II –  Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression

Article III  –  Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War

Article IV  –  Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States

Article V  –  Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression

Article VI  –  Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114

Article VII  –  Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Article VIII  –  Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter

Article IX  –  Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article X  –  Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article XI  –  Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Article XII  –  Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources

Article XIIII  –  Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries

Article XIV  –  Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article XV  –  Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article XVI  –  Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Article XVII  –  Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article XVIII  –  Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article XIX  –  Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to ” Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article XX  –  Imprisoning Children

Article XXI  –  Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Article XXII  –  Creating Secret Laws

Article XXIII  –  Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Article XXIV  –  Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article XXV  –  Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article XXVI  –  Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article XXVII  –  Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article XXVIII  –  Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article XXIX  –  Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Article XXX  –  Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Article XXXI  –  Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Article XXXII  –  Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Article XXXIII  –  Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Article XXXIV  –  Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Article XXXV  –  Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

© Independent News & Media (NI)

Related Links:

• Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich last night introduced 35 Articles of Impeachment

New Zealand: A “destination country” for human trafficking

New Zealand is a “destination country” for “white slavery!”

Trafficking in Persons Report 2008

See Original Entry: A New Depth in Depravity for New Zealand

Full US Gov Report: Trafficking in Persons Report 2008 (PDF: 49MB )

Related Link:

• China Quake: Why Was the Girl Removed from Family?
• In China, stories of children sold for slavery

human trafficking

Chinese Government: No Protests!

Chinese Government Prevents Aggrieved Parents Lodging Lawsuit

Chinese police broke up a demonstration by dozens of aggrieved parents protesting outside a Dujiangyan courthouse over the loss of their children on Tuesday, and prevented them from lodging a lawsuit over a collapsed school building. On Wednesday the police blocked access to the schools that collapsed on May 12 earthquake.

The father of Li Yun, a 15-year-old student who died in the May 12 earthquake, flashes a photograph of her through a police car’s window after he was forcibly detained and taken away from the Juyuan middle school in Juyuan, Sichuan province June 4, 2008. REUTERS/Nir Elias. Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

Chinese police broke up a demonstration by dozens of aggrieved parents protesting outside a Dujiangyan courthouse over the loss of their children on Tuesday, and prevented them from lodging a lawsuit over a collapsed school building. On Wednesday the police blocked access to the schools that collapsed on May 12 earthquake.

China’s State Council said Wednesday that the death toll rose to 69,122, with 17,991 more missing and likely dead. More than 9,000 children lost their lives in the massive earthquake. Many parents blame sub-standard buildings were responsible for the death of their loved ones and vowed to press on with their complaints.

“The government has said it will address our complaints, but the officials are too corrupt to actually do anything,” said Zhao Deqin, a mother whose 15-year-old twin daughters, Yajia and Yaqi, died when the Juyuan Middle school collapsed.

“We certainly want to sue the school and whoever was responsible,” said Zhang Xianqing, a parent whose 15-year-old boy also died in the school, in a town near Dujianggyan.

“We will help them solve their difficulties so that they can receive consolation,” a government spokesman said in Beijing. “This is a very painful thing. Who would not feel fluctuations in emotions? It will take time for them to calm down. Much work needs to be done.”

The official statement, however, contradicts some of the parents who said local authorities were harassing them.

“We went to seek justice for the children and they said we were troublemakers. The police were in a row and would not let us pass,” said Li Guilong, 20, whose 16-year-old sister Li Zhuan was killed in the collapse of the Xiang’e Middle School.

Another parent, Li Fuliang, who lost his 14-year-old son aid the police had visited his house to warn him off against “making any trouble.”

“They told me not to go and make trouble. If the government does not give us a clear response I will keep going to seek justice. My child died,” he said.

Reporting Protests Banned

“But the protests by parents have not been reported locally, and efforts by officials to discourage foreign reporters talking to parents underscore the school issue’s sensitivity when the government wants the focus on massive relief efforts for millions of displaced people.” Reuters reported.

Police and soldiers react to being photographed as they guard the entrance to the earthquake-destroyed Xinjian primary school in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, China June 4, 2008. REUTERS/Nir Elias. Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

“This is going to be a touchstone issue that brings together questions about how to deal with the quake aftermath — accountability, the public interest and compensation,” Xu Wu, a former Chinese journalist and now a public relations expert at Arizona State University, said of the schools.

“Normally four to five weeks after a disaster, relatives of victims recover from the initial shock and become more demanding and questioning. I think that will start happening.”

“In Beijing, lawyers have held meetings on the rights of quake victims and issued calls for a full inquiry into the schools.” Reuters said.

“That it was school rooms that collapsed first in the earthquake is a national disgrace,” rights campaigner Xu Zhiyong told a recent forum, according to a transcript seen by Reuters. (Source)

Related Links:

• China earthquake: Teacher left students behind as he ran to safety
• Chinese quake investigator pinpoints school failings
• China “quake lake” fears compound survivors misery

Analysis:

• Why Didn’t China Prevent the Loss of 86,000 Lives?
• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse
• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• How Many More Survivors?
• Heavy Death Toll, Corruption, Criminal Incompetence
• Why Was the Girl Removed from Family?

• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath
• Bigger China Disaster Unfolds

• China’s grieving quake parents start to voice anger
• Beijing’s quick response to disaster won’t cover cracks of corruption
• Almost five million left homeless, China says
• Corruption blamed for rising death toll in China
• Parents’ grief turns to anger at shoddily built deathtrap schools

• Earthquake Predictions In China Are Also Political

Related Links:

• China “quake lake” fears force new evacuation
• Swelling China lakes a danger 2 weeks after quake
• Big aftershock causes more misery in China

Relate Videos:

• Long road ahead for quake victims
• China’s shattered villages.
• Aftershock hits China quake zone

A Snapshot of Disasters

Sri Lanka

Floods triggered by torrential rains have killed at least 20 people and affected about a quarter of million people [1.25 percent of the population] in Sri Lanka.

“We have requested specially canned food such as canned fish and water, clothes for the flood affected people as an urgent need,” said the coordinator for the National Disaster Management Centre.

The forecast is for more rain in the coming days in the islaned lashed by southwest monsoon season, which runs from May to September.

Ravaged by a 25-year war between the government forces and Tamil Tigers, which has killed at least 70,000 people, much of the country’s infrastructure has been severely neglected. Sri Lanka has a population of 20 million.

Southern Germany

In the Killertal valley [“killer valley”] in southern Germany three people drowned in heavy floods unleashed by severe storms. The floods damaged buildings and swept cars away.

Eastern Ethiopia

In eastern Ethiopia flash floods killed 25 people, a government spokesman said. In the eastern city of Jijiga the Wabe Shebelle River burst its banks and floods swept away several houses. Most of Ethiopia is affected by a drought that has causes severe crops failure.

Chile

A couple leave a flooded house in San Carlos town, south of Santiago May 22, 2008. REUTERS/Sergio Pereira/La discusion de Chillan/Handout

In Chile heavy rains unleashed severe flooding killed nine people, forced 15,000 out of their homes, damaged 8,000 homes, collapsed roads and bridges and closed the world’s largest underground copper mine.

Colombia

A soldier stands in an area that was affected by a landslide in Medellin June 1, 2008. REUTERS/Fredy Amariles. image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

Landslide buried about 20 homes in a poor hillside neighborhood in the northern Colombian city of Medellin killing 19 people, with at least eight more were missing, authorities said.

Heave rain triggered flooding which collapsed bridges, blocked roads and damaged crops across the Andean country, forcing at least 100,000 people to abandon their homes.

Related Links

• Sri Lankan flood victims (Video report)
• Sri Lanka seeks aid for thousands of flood survivors
• Floods displace 15,000 in Chile
• Government says 25 killed in Ethiopia flooding

China earthquake: Teacher left students behind as he ran to safety

“I’m a Coward, So What? I’m Still Alive!” —’Runner Fan’

“In matters of life and death, it’s every man for himself, the cowardly Chinese teacher, Fan Meizhong, said.

“I ran towards the stairs so fast that I stumbled and fell as I went. When I reached the center of the football pitch, I found I was the first to escape. None of my pupils was with me,” said the coward, known as ‘Runner Fan.’

Later, when some of his students who managed to scape asked him how he could have left them behind, he replied: “I have a very strong sense of self-preservation … I have never been a brave man and I’m only really concerned about myself.”

Watch your fingernails! The brave Chinese military personnel save the earthquake survivors. The soldiers risk breaking their fingernails removing debris—one brick at a time! (Photo: Reuters). Image may be subject to copyright. See RTSF Fair Use Notice!

“While newspapers have largely followed instructions to concentrate on uplifting tales of rescue work since the earthquake, the internet has seen a wild variety of tales emerge.” Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported.

The Chinese principle of “every man for himself,” otherwise known as the “me-first-in-rate-race,” seems to run throughout China’s officialdom to its utmost criminal extent. In Juyuan School, where according to the parents 500 to 700 of the 900 students [about 56 -78 percent] died [the official number is 278 deaths, or 31 percent] only six out of 80 teachers [less than 8 percent] perished. one explanation offered by the parents was that “teachers stood nearest the doors.”

The bottom line? “I didn’t cause the earthquake, so I have no reason to feel guilty,” he said. “When I got back to the classroom, the students were all fine.” (Source)

The only consolation? At least he admitted to his moral cowardice. Something the Chinese leaders haven’t done yet!

Related Links:

• China “Frankenstein”
• China “quake lake” fears compound survivors misery

Analysis:

• Why Didn’t China Prevent the Loss of 86,000 Lives?
• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse
• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• How Many More Survivors?
• Heavy Death Toll, Corruption, Criminal Incompetence
• Why Was the Girl Removed from Family?

• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath
• Bigger China Disaster Unfolds

• China’s grieving quake parents start to voice anger
• Beijing’s quick response to disaster won’t cover cracks of corruption
• Almost five million left homeless, China says
• Corruption blamed for rising death toll in China
• Parents’ grief turns to anger at shoddily built deathtrap schools

• Earthquake Predictions In China Are Also Political

Related Links:

• China “quake lake” fears force new evacuation
• Swelling China lakes a danger 2 weeks after quake
• Big aftershock causes more misery in China

Relate Videos:

• Long road ahead for quake victims
• China’s shattered villages.
• Aftershock hits China quake zone

Do the Poor Have Human Rights?

What Has Soaring Food and Fuel Prices Got to Do with Human Rights?

Whose fault is it If the poor can’t afford food? Give them more money and you create a bigger problem: Inflation.

It’s not the job of your government to control these things you know, they have more important things to do: National security and the Economy (!)

The poor don’t come with engines and wheels; you can’t drive them like cars. Why should they get all the grains at dirt cheap prices, when biofuels bring in a decent profit and help turn the wheels?

Neither the UN nor the so-called global relief organizations seem to care about the plight of the world’s poor. So, once again, do the poor have human rights?

Related Links:

• We Need Food!
• Rome food protesters demand rethink (Video report)
• Human right to food denied in Haiti: Preliminary findings of the fact-finding mission